Gregory Thompson

Jailhouse informant Leslie White was incorrect about two of the three cases he cited earlier this week that he said resulted in death sentences for men convicted in part by informants' testimony, the district attorney's office said Friday. White, the central figure in a review of cases involving jailhouse informants' testimony, identified the three in a telephone interview from jail as Harold Memro, Robert Gibson and a man convicted in a murder trial known as the Rolling 60s case.

Two Los Angeles County sheriff's sergeants accused of lying to federal investigators about threatening to arrest an FBI agent secretly recorded the confrontation outside the agent's home, a federal prosecutor said in court Monday. Asst. U.S. Atty. Brandon Fox said sheriff's Sgt. Scott Craig also left a voice mail for the agent's supervisor, saying the agent was named in a criminal complaint. Craig and Sgt. Maricella Long then went to the agent's home and told her she was going to be arrested as a result of the complaint, Fox said.

Although a new state law permits felony prosecution in such cases, prosecutors in Los Angeles and Orange counties filed misdemeanor charges against about two dozen people suspected of firing guns into the air on New Year's Eve, officials said. Starting Monday, however, the Los Angeles district attorney's office will review all such cases with the intention of upgrading them to felonies, according to Gregory Thompson, chief deputy district attorney.

Who would have thought that a teen TV series about a high school hunk with lycanthropic tendencies--he turns into a werewolf when he gets emotional--could be so refreshingly normal and funny? Quirkiness is the calculated, guiding principle in the Fox Family Channel's new Friday afternoon series "Big Wolf on Campus," and you can see those wheels turning. But it works.

AandBC Theatre derives its name from Hamlet's reference to "the abstract and brief chronicles of the time." But while "brief chronicles" aptly describes the work of AandBC, the aridity of "abstract" is misleading. The affable British company's "The Tale That Wags the Dog," seen twice at the Skirball Cultural Center over the weekend in its North American premiere, is awash in warm feelings about the attraction between men and women. But it's hardly a generic Valentine's Day program.

Los Angeles County sheriff's officials launched an investigation Friday into a "stupid joke" a deputy from the agency's jailhouse intelligence unit allegedly played on two black colleagues, a department spokesman said. The deputy sent an email to the rest of his unit - including his boss - singling out the two black deputies, the spokesman confirmed. "Due to the recent tension between the black and Hispanics, I implemented a new unit," Deputy Mickey Manzo, who is not black, allegedly wrote.

Re "'NFL Refuses to Limit L.A. Team to Coliseum," Oct. 16: I quite often attend events at the L.A. Coliseum and am angry at the negative racial remarks that I read about every time an article on the subject appears in The Times. I go to events, picnic in the park, walk by myself to and from my car, and nothing has ever happened to me or my property. Your reporters should go to Exposition Park to see the ongoing improvements being made to make Exposition Park a wonderful place to put a new stadium.

I was sickened by the story in The Times (June 10) about the Ralphs Grocery firing their long-term employees and/or demoting them in favor of hiring cheaper, new employees. It's a crime when a company like Ralphs can make $43 million in profit and then ask valued long-term workers to take a 50% cut in salary and accrued benefits. Obviously the company wasn't in dire straights, about ready to go belly up with those kind of profits. It simply wanted to offer its rich investors better stock dividends and profit margins.

Jay Rakow, senior vice president and general counsel of Paramount Pictures, is leaving to rejoin the law firm of Christensen, White, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser & Shapiro as a partner and head of its entertainment practice. He will be succeeded by Rebecca Prentice. Rakow, who left the law firm in 1993, plans to stay at Paramount through July. * Talent agent Christopher Buchanan and independent producer John Tomko are joining Jerry Weintraub Productions as senior vice presidents of production.

A survey by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office shows that more than half the hospitals in the county are offering services to rape victims, an improvement since last summer when stringent new state-mandated examining procedures prompted many hospitals to stop admitting such patients. But, the survey said, it remains an "unacceptable situation" to those advocating on behalf of rape victims. "It's an improvement, no question about it," Dist. Atty.